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autistook · 6 months

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Sean Astin & Elijah Wood | ROTK Cast Commentary

#lotr #lord of the rings #the lord of the rings #lotr cast #lotr commentary #frodo #samwise #sam gamgee #samwise gamgee #frodo baggins #hobbits #sean astin #elijah #elijah wood #elijah and sean

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outlawssweetheart · 8 months

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I would hate to be in Lothlórien, it looks like when you wake up in the middle of the night and look at your cell phone. 😩

#lothlorien #lotr #the lord of the rings #lotr commentary #txt

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coveredinsun · 2 months

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#for once i have absolutely no commentary to add to this #other than to ask the question of course: Is This Anything.#lord of the rings #lotr #samfrodo #gigolas #frodo baggins #samwise gamgee #legolas greenleaf #legolas #gimli son of gloin #gimli #tolkien #gimleafposting #coveredinsunposting

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glitteringaglarond · 1 year

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Hope is a theme that runs throughout the story of The Lord of the Rings. You can no more remove Tolkien's themes and ideas about Hope than you could remove the Ring itself. It is always there, echoing silently at the edge of words, shimmering faintly in the darkness; and when it is absent a point is made to emphasize that very fact.

In the two "sections" of the book - one that focuses on Frodo and Sam and one that focuses on everybody else - we see the different ways that Hope is addressed. The story of Frodo and Sam shows what happens when Hope slowly ebbs away, leaving nothing but sheer, raw, heartbreaking determination behind - or in the case of Frodo, a person so broken that nothing can heal him.

But in the other section - the one that focuses on the rest of the Company and on Rohan and Gondor - Hope takes a slightly different form. Instead of being a story of the loss of Hope, it is the story of the restoration of Hope. Or more specifically, the Hope that certain characters can and do bring to the story, and to the people around them. And tragically, what will happen when certain characters cannot and will not Hope, and instead give way to Despair. And that's the Hope that I want to talk about.

In Sindarin there are two words for Hope: Estel, which is Hope based on Faith, and Amdir, which is Hope based on Proof. Aragorn, the heir of Kings, is undoubtedly the personification of Estel in the story. That is literally one of his many, many, many names. And I argue that Faramir, the heir of Stewards, is the personification of Amdir. Yes there are other characters that also embody Estel and Amdir - Gandalf and Imrahil spring to mind, but I mainly want to focus on Aragorn and Faramir. And I want to focus on how Estel vs Amdir has a profound impact on Despair.

Almost from the moment that Gandalf falls, Aragorn steps into his role as Estel. It is explicitly stated time and time again in the text that Aragorn brings hope with him wherever he goes. But the Hope of Aragorn is the one that you must have faith in, which means that it is a Hope that cannot always be physically there. To all appearances, Hope must abandon the people who need it most in order to shine out bright and triumphantly when most needed. And so Estel departs, and the people must have faith that Hope will return or give in to Despair.

Faramir, on the other hand, is a different kind of Hope. Gondor has been at war with Sauron for centuries. There is no single man, woman, or child in Gondor who has ever known peace without the threat of war and violence looming within sight of their very city. They are a people who can no longer afford to have faith in Hope. Their Hope must be based on Proof, and that is exactly what they have in Faramir, and is likely a role shared by Boromir before he departed and fell. So Faramir proves himself, day in and day out. He proves himself a man of wisdom, a man of courage, a man who all his people can depend on. He proves himself to be willing to ride against a flying Nazgul on the off chance he can help his men - and the Hope he inspires is so great that even his horse will not turn aside when that is his purpose. And yet, when the situation is at its most dire, Amdir falls. And now the People have nothing.

And Despair, as the antithesis of Hope, is an important element in a discussion about Hope. So first let's talk about the antithesis of Estel: Denethor.

Denethor, who in a sense is the personification of his people, has been leading a steadily weakening people for years, fighting a war that has been going on for centuries. He does not have the luxury to Hope, and he certainly doesn't have the luxury for a Hope that you have to have faith in. Faith died long ago, and all that is left is what meager Hope can be pulled from the daily grind, from the blood and sweat and tears of the men who fight in this war. All that is left is Amdir - and Denethor's relationship with Amdir is famously strained.

But Denethor struggles on. He continues on when Boromir falls, despair beginning to cloud his judgement as he is overwhelmed by grief. But it is only when Faramir falls in battle - when Amdir is seemingly lost, that he has no Hope left. And so in Despair he turns to the Palantir and is literally given a glimpse of Estel. But Faith died long ago, so he doesn't see the Hope that he must have Faith to see. And thus his Despair gives way to madness.

And in his madness, he nearly destroys what remains of Amdir.

But Estel has come, even if Denethor did not have the necessary Faith to see it. And what it is that can restore Hope when there is no longer any proof for it? What can restore Amdir? Who can restore Faramir? Estel can - the healing hands of the King.

Estel and Amdir, the King and his Steward - the two go hand in hand. The people of Gondor want to believe in their King, but they do believe in the Stewards that have ruled them for centuries. So is it a wonder that the people's ability to have faith in Hope is only restored when Estel restores Amdir?

But there is one other character, intrinsically linked with Faramir and Aragorn, to whom the themes Hope and Despair are poignantly evident: Eowyn.

Like Denethor, Estel is what pushes her over the edge and into a desire for death. When Estel cannot manage to give her any hope for a future and leaves her behind to a bleak present, she loses all hope. But unlike Denethor, Estel was the only hope she had. So when she lost her faith in Hope she had nothing to fall back on to. When she lost her faith in Hope, she did not have years and years of Hope based on proof to depend on. Instead she is pushed to the same level of desperation that led to Denethor's despair and madness.

Like Denethor, Eowyn sought to die - possibly with those she loved beside her, although that is not made explicit. Like Denethor, the intervention of Hobbits saved her life. Unlike Denethor, she did not get the chance to try again. And now, after failing even at her own death, with Estel saying that he cannot restore her from her Despair, (literally saying that he can recall her from the dark valley, but if she awakes to despair she will die unless some other healing comes that he cannot bring), Eowyn finally meets Amdir. She finally meets the kind of Hope that her bitter, depressed, desperate soul can depend on. And Faramir, with the Hope of Amdir, is able to heal her the way Estel could not.

And once Estel restores Amdir, Amdir can bring about the kind of healing that Estel cannot. After all, Hope that you must have faith in is only powerful when people have Faith. And sometimes that is not possible. Sometimes Hope needs to prove itself to a person before they can accept the nebulousness of Faith.

When Estel restores Amdir and Amdir, in turn, restores Faith - the people now have the faith needed for Estel's true return.

#lotr newsletter #lotr #aragorn #faramir #eowyn #denethor #farawyn #lord of the rings #my op #idk if i should actually be tagging the newsletter but this IS what all my newsletter commentary has been building up to #newsletter april 1 #and i was waiting for today to actually write and post it #so... it shall be tagged

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novelmonger · 3 months

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So I'm a pretty big LotR fan. And I'm a pretty big fan of the movies. No, they're not perfect, but they're a really good adaptation and a truly masterful work of cinematic art. I've grown pretty familiar with the movies over the past 23 years (@_@) - and not just the movies themselves, but I also love learning all about how they were made. I've watched all the way through all the bonus material in the Extended Editions at least five times (and some of the more fun bits way more times than that XD). I've even watched all three movies with the cast commentary.

But you know what I've never done, not even at the height of my obsession when I had way more free time than I do now? I've never watched the movies with the other commentaries. It looks like there are three more commentaries, with different groups of various people on the crew, and for some reason I never got around to listening through them. I can't for the life of me think why - maybe I thought I already knew everything they'd talk about? maybe I somehow thought it would be boring??? - but today that changes!

I'm going to just jot down the main things that stick out to me that I didn't know before. I've gleaned a lot of BTS information and stories about these movies from various sources, so I'm not sure how long this will be, but I'm sure there will be some new things that jump out at me.

From the FotR writer/director commentary with Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh:

There was a draft of the script where they didn't have a prologue, and all the information about Sauron and the Ring and Gollum and everything was going to be in that conversation between Frodo and Gandalf @_@ Can you imagine? I mean, yeah, it would be more like the book, but At What Cost? (At the cost of several memes and short attention spans, that's what.)

Peter Jackson says he doesn't like magic or wizards in movies. Um...sir? Why the heck are you making fantasy movies then???

The location where they shot the Ford of Bruinen was a real ford that was used during the gold rush in New Zealand! Because New Zealand had a gold rush around the same time as the one in the U.S.!

Hugo Weaving actually did the voice of Isildur when he claims the Ring and says, "No." I have...questions.

Peter Jackson says the journey through Moria is the best sequence in the book, and Fran and Philippa say it's the best-written chapter. Interesting! I don't know what I would point to as the best-written chapter of FotR; I don't think I've ever thought of that (though I might say some of the best descriptions in this book are in Rivendell).

They said they might redo the Gollum scene in Moria to make him look more like he does in TTT. Uhhh...it's been 23 years, guys, where's my remaster? XD

The Frodo-Gandalf conversation in Moria (the "all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us" conversation) was done with forced perspective??? I never realized that! I thought they just had Elijah sit a little lower than Ian so their eyelines would be right! They totally look like they're looking into each other's eyes, but they're not! :O

"Often in movies, that's a rare thing, to have shots in which nothing is real." - Oh, PJ, if you only knew what the state of things would be in two decades....

The scene of the Fellowship mourning Gandalf outside Moria was filmed before Ian McKellan had even arrived in New Zealand! :O So they were all mourning and reacting to the death of someone they probably weren't even sure what he looked like yet!

Sean Bean was apparently the only one of the primary actors who had any experience with a sword? Or at least he had the most experience. Viggo had to do the Weathertop fight scene on his first day, when he'd never touched a sword before @_@

In Boromir's death scene, the words sung by the chorus in the background is an Elvish translation of Faramir's line "I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend." ;A;

At one point, they were going to have Frodo fighting off an Uruk-Hai before he goes into the boat??? They even shot some of the footage?! Thankfully, they realized that was completely the wrong way to go about his end to this movie; it needed to be an emotional climax, not an action scene, and Frodo's victory is over his own doubts and the Ring's influence on him, when he grasps the Ring and marches forward to continue on his Quest, alone if need be. Thank goodness they realized that before it was too late.

SEAN ASTIN WAS NOT UNDERWATER IN THE SHOT OF HIM DROWNING WHAAAAAT MIND BLOWN

The shot of Boromir's boat going over the edge of the waterfall was actually footage of a barrel going over the Niagara Falls, and they just used CG to replace the barrel with the boat O.O

Fran Walsh: So Viggo's just put on Boromir's gauntlets... Me, a nerd: Vambraces, actually.

#lord of the rings #lotr #peter jackson #philippa boyens #fran walsh #these might be a little slow coming in because i don't want to binge the movies three times in a row #but i WILL be going through all the commentaries besides the cast commentary which i've already heard

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buildarocketboys · 20 days

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Listening to the cast commentary on the LOTR extended editions is so funny because it's like:

Dom and Billy: just pissing about, having a laff, being jokesters

Elijah and Sean: having deep philosophical conversations about war and religion or making fat jokes about Sean as Sam

Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee: Being the grand old men of acting that they are, making insightful comments about the nature of acting or Tolkien or whatever

John Rhys Davies: Sometimes the same as the above, but mostly talking about how he spent most of his time hiding away from everyone because the prosthetics they used ate into his skin, poor guy :(

Sean Bean: I wasn't actually here for this scene

Orlando Bloom: ohhh this person's amazing. So is this one. Look how incredible this set design/scenery/special effect is. Elves don't feel the cold or get tired so I had to pretend not to be cold or tired. Oh isn't [insert actor here] incredible?

Viggo Mortensen: is not present in any of these commentaries

Bernard Hill: F**ck

Everyone else: mostly saying normal things about their characters and filming the scenes lol

#lotr #lotr cast commentaries #im having a lot of fun lol

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weirdnotal · 2 months

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Me n some friends rewatched lotr so have some commentary from nerdy gay teens in no particular order

*Aragorn sulking in the corner, staring at the hobbit gang*

Friend 1: he does various activities in his spare time

Friend 2: like fucking?

Friend 1: yup

Friend 3: unfortunately not me :/

Friend 4: the Nazguls are having a toddler tantrum bro

Friend 2: they're going to see the elves!

Friend 1: Legolas.... *dreamily*

Friend 4: shhh it's okay

Friend 5: Sam look-

Everyone: DONT INSULT THE BABY

Friend 2: shh everyone shut up the memes

*all intently watch them argue about second breakfast*

*stops movie to show Friend 5 potato song*

*Legolas and Glimli walk in*

*Everyone chanting "ONE OF US" in snyc*

Friend 1: when Saruman sits like that he looks like that one Bernie sanders picture with the mittens

Friend 3: JUST TAKE THE RING OFF FRODO

Friend 2: it's for PLOT REASONS

Friend 4: this is a terrible plan boys

Friend 2: yeah but they're boys

Friend 2: I hate Arwen in this movie she's a bitch

Friend 3: but she's pretty so it doesn't matter

*a lil later*

Friend 3: okay it matters

*stop movie to show Friend 5 the "taking the hobits to Isengard" song*

#im back on my bullshit #the vibes are immaculate #teen stuff #lotr #legolas #legolas and gimli #aragorn #saruman #lotr movies #lotr memes #frodo baggins #my commentary

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goodgrammaritan · 1 month

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It occurs to me that some of you here might not be familiar with the best part of any cast commentary ever. May I present:

TIG

youtube

Start at about a minute. You won't regret it.

#lotr #cast commentaries #fellowship of the ring #TIG #elijah wood #dominic monaghan #billy boyd #sean astin #literally lol #Youtube

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philtstone · 2 months

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I don't know much about LOTR but I know Aragorn's weird. He's a weirdo. He doesn't fit in. Have you ever seen him without that stupid helmet? Wait no don't kick that

lmfaoooo

my great hope is that everyone who has not yet watched lotr now observing my unhinged posts will be compelled to watch lotr. i feel this way not only because i think its a beautiful story but also and more pragmatically because i genuinely think that for whatever flaws it may have its a very special phenomenon in filmmaking history.

(i would never presume to insist anyone has to read the books. theyre bangers though)

that said if you, gentle reader, never do watch lotr. and ur seeing my crazy posts. yes. the biggest takeaway from all of this is indeed that aragorn, prophesied king of the realm and the best dude you will ever meet, is a weirdo

many tolkien characters are weirdos in out-of-story-context. and then several tolkien characters are weirdos in in-story-context, too, which makes them great fun. in fact, it could be argued that there's so much cross-cultural race and power-level mixing in the proverbial dnd party (and all subsequent side quests), that every single character is at one point perceived as a massive weirdo by any other given character in the story.

and theyre all the good guys <3

#except gollum hes a weirdo and also a mongrel creature. but still deserving of great compassion <3 #dont quote me on this & please remember im always a little unserious #theres some commentary to be made here on neurodivergence of the author & corresponding character traits but i have complex thoughts on #philology of such lables and philosophical quibbles with the concept itself despite its practical modern uses. SO. i wont go there #point stands tho .....#phil reads lotr #and for those jumping to say movie aragorn is too cool or whatever first of all book aragorn is also very cool.#secondly movie aragorn is canonically scripturally biblically a textbook horse girl. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT

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emblazons · 1 year

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And when S5 El is actually Return of the King Aragorn fighting with Lucas (our ranger, Legolas) & Dustin (the perfect Gimli) & Erica (Merry/Pippin) offering themselves up to defeat the “main army” + save Max from where she’s lost in the UD, while Byler (Sam + Frodo) destroy Henry’s connection to their world through Will—

—what then. WHAT THEN

(bonus points for Arwen / Max parallels, where her life hung in the balance based on the result of the war, so when they win Lucas walks Max to see El like Legolas did Arwen to Aragorn so El gets a moment with the person who inspires her most)

#byler #the duffers even said they have all their ROTK endings planned lmao it fits so well #I literally just watched return of the king and…yeah. YEAH #El’s little FOR WILL going into the fray for the WillEl of it all lmaooo #THE IMMACULATE HOPCLAIR VIBES #I need it now actually #my st commentary #the me tag #lotr #stranger things

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autistook · 4 months

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Two Towers with my dad: finished. Here are his thoughts and comments during and after the film:

"I think the gardener is my favorite."

"Gollum is hilarious. *proceeds to call our family cat Gollum*"

"Why wont Gandalf just fly one of those Nazguls to Mordor? If it was written like that the story would go much faster."

"There the flaming vagina is again."

"How are the horses walking in the marsh- oh they have dragons."

"How is Gimli beating all of these soldiers (at Helm's deep) alone?"

"Why are the director's children there again are they still hobbits?"

"That is very true, what he said. (No parent should have to bury their child, looked at me and my mom after this and I almost cried)"

"Didn't Boromir just die? (This was when Faramir was introduced)"

"The fairy girl died??? (When Eowyn is hearteyes over Aragorn)"

"Is Aragorn swimming with the pig? (warg)"

"OH NO, NOT HALDIR!!!"

"Those two chilling on top of the tree are so high on weed aren't they..."

/ I have to add his opinion on Ents:

"Tree man is funny but I don't get it. First of all, are you scared to go to forests now? (I said if I saw the movies as a kid the marshes would've scared me) Why do they walk on legs?? Shouldn't they walk like crabs on their roots?"

and when the trees came to Helm's deep

"Where the fuck did that forest come from?"

#lotr #lord of the rings #the lord of the rings #my dad watches lotr for the first time #the two towers #lotr commentary #pippin #pippin took #merry #peregrin took #merry brandybuck #frodo #samwise

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thatdragonlad · 11 months

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Broke: Viggo Mortensen’s scream when he kicked the helmet was real because he broke his toe

Woke: Billy Boyd pissed himself during the fireworks scene at Bilbo’s party because he wasn’t expecting the firework to actually go off

#lotr #the fellowship of the ring #actors commentary #viggo mortensen #billy boyd #lord of the rings

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frodo-with-glasses · 11 months

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Thanks for your patience, @invisiblewashboard! Let’s talk about this little doodle. ^-^

(See the original post here!)

1. What made you want to draw this scene?

Originally, I had a plan to draw the entire confrontation with Saruman at Bag End as a series of long comics, and this would have been the final panel after Saruman’s and Wormtongue’s deaths. But by the time I got to this point, I was feeling a bit worn out; I’d already drawn A LOT for the Scouring of the Shire, spending almost a month total on the single chapter, and I didn’t have the energy for an entire comic that would ultimately end on a downer note. But I couldn’t ignore this moment—it’s important, however painful it is—so I had to draw at least this panel.

3. What does [character’s] facial expression mean/what’s going through their head?

Pippin is looking at the bodies of Wormtongue and Saruman. This is about five seconds after Frodo pulled the hem of the cloak over Saruman’s shriveled face and turned away. Pippin is still trying to come to grips with the horror of what he just saw; he’s grappling with the thought that he just saw a wizard die and a disturbed man shot down in front of his cousin’s childhood home. Is this is the end of their journey? All the toil and hardship, and this is their reward? It doesn’t really feel like a reward. It feels like there’s no boundary line between war and peace anymore. One bleeds into the other—just like Grima bleeding into the garden path on the lawn of Bag End.

19. [X] is my favorite part of this drawing; tell me more about it!

Ohohoho you KNOW how I feel about Frodo and Merry’s friendship 🤣 Throughout this read-through I’ve fallen in love with the idea that the two of them have been best friends since Merry was a lad, and even as they’re older they still have that steady, familial, almost brotherly bond. The hand on Frodo’s shoulder is a reverse parallel to this post; neither Frodo nor Merry is a particularly touchy-feely person (definitely not as much as Sam), but in moments of deep sorrow, they’ll offer sympathy through their presence and a hand on the shoulder. Merry knows this hard for Frodo. He’s thinking about how terrible he’d feel if this death and devastation happened on the doorstep of Brandy Hall instead. And he loves Frodo, so he reaches out, and he wordlessly says “I’m sorry”.

(Had I drawn the entire comic, Merry ‘s line of “and the very last end of the war, I hope” would’ve been with a gentle glance at Frodo that Frodo doesn’t notice. For his cousin’s sake—and everyone else’s—Merry hopes this is the end of the war. Please, he begs the universe, haven’t you taken enough? Please, please just let him rest.)

ARTIST COMMENTARY ASK GAME!

#artist commentary ask game #frodo baggins #peregrin took #pippin #meriadoc brandybuck #merry #lord of the rings #lotr #my art #my writing

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general-illyrin · 5 months

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Have a silly meme, courtesy of a late night and the hubris of posting this when fewer people are awake